Snow

While in Oregon, we kept a weather watch on Nebraska for our return flight. By about Monday we decided to make a motel reservation for the Super 8 near the Omaha airport 'just in case' we didn't want to drive the 2.5 hours back to Wayne. As the week wore on, we realized that was one of our smarter moves! Anyone watching the national news this past week knows that a MAJOR blizzard hit the plains states. Here's our story!

Checking weather.com regularly let us know that getting into Denver for the first leg of the trip wouldn't be a problem and it wasn't. Surprisingly, flying into Omaha wasn't a problem either. We were a little late, but that was due more to transferring luggage from a cancelled flight than the snow and wind. As we touched down in Omaha, the tires made a bit of a squeal and it seemed to take longer than normal to slow down enough to taxi to the gate. And then there was this prop jet at our gate. Later we found out that plane had been rolled in and out of that gate several times... don't know the whole story. Anyway, we sat in about 6" of snow while that plane was wheeled back from the gate into an area called the 'alley' so that we could pull in. After about 25-30 minutes of waiting (well within the new 3-hour limit to be imposed in the future but long enough with the jet fuel fumes...), we pulled into the gate and de-planed.


Our plan was to find some food to take with us to the motel. So who would've guessed that all the food places outside the secure area would be closed? After walking to the far end of the terminal, we found a couple of bagels and cream cheese to take with us for our supper. Okay, it sort of made up for the amount we'd eaten over the last week! Then we called for the motel shuttle and soon were checked into our warm room. Cable TV was a real treat for us since we have only an antenna at home. Having the little Asus computer and an iTouch allowed us to check weather and road reports for the expected trip home the next day. It didn't look good...

After sleeping in we headed for the 'free' breakfast. Lots of white flour concoctions, a yogurt, juice, and coffee filled us up. Even though it didn't look that bad outside, we knew the roads were slick even where cleared because of the rain and ice that preceded the snow. What we didn't know was what the roads were REALLY like away from the city. The state road report had postings from Christmas morning and it wasn't possible to tell if they were still current. So, we decided to stay another night. An early decision was necessary because the motel had only five rooms to sell for the night. Back to the room, the computer, and HGTV! Oh yes, I got out the needles and yarn and got quite a bit done on the sock I am knitting!

Mid-afternoon we took the shuttle back to the airport for a couple of tasks: food and car. The other shuttle occupant had been at the motel since Wednesday waiting to fly out for a two week vacation in Vietnam. His rebooked flight for 6:30 on Saturday was delayed until 9:30 which meant he would miss all his connections. So, he was rebooked again for Sunday. Poor guy was spending way too much of his Vietnamese vacation in the Super 8! After eating a late lunch and picking up a sandwich for later, we hopped on the parking lot shuttle to dig out the van. Surprisingly, that wasn't very hard! A big pickup or two had blocked a lot of the snow. We drove carefully back to the motel with just a couple of hiccups. The driveway into the motel REALLY needed plowing, a car had stopped right in front of the driveway entrance, and then a father was walking in the road with his two young daughters. With about 8" of loose snow in the road and two 90 degree turns, you would think keeping an eye out for cars approaching would be a good idea...

More cable TV, computer time, knitting, sleeping, and that wonderful motel breakfast... then we headed out. Instead of taking the two-lane highway through the hills north of Omaha, we chose to drive the main roads right through town. For the first few miles it was packed snow, then wet roads (brine???), then basically dry roads with some blowing snow. Driving was fine until the last 15 miles on Hwy. 15. There was blowing snow and several places where the drifts narrowed the road to barely one lane. It was not a lot of fun when that occured just below the crest of a hill and we couldn't see if there was oncoming traffic. We finally made it home to a cleared driveway! Our usual lawn mower/snow blower help for vacations had blown the driveway and sidewalks yesterday and it was still clear enough today! By the way the big towns on either side of us got 18.9 and 20.7 inches of snow, so we guess that's about what we got too. Here are some photos from around the house.
This is John blowing out the snowplow residue. Note the height of the pile of snow in front of the snow blower!











This was taken from inside the house. It's a pretty drift!

Pacific Pilgrimage

Whenever we get to Oregon, we try to spend couple of days at the beach. Usually that is Cannon Beach, the place I spent two weeks every summer of my childhood. Since visits are often at Christmas time the weather can be variable, to say the least. One year we hiked Tillamook Head in shirtsleeves but not so this year! Rain and wind with two short glimpses of sun were what we faced today.

Timing was all wrong when we went for a walk towards Haystack Rock as the brisk tailwind turned into a steady, wind-driven rain!



Hi! This is Gromit, Marilyn's traveling companion. I jumped into her pocket with the camera as she headed out for a walk. Here are some photos we took BEFORE the rain blew in.

Here I am with Ecola State Park (Bird Rocks???) and Tillamook Head behind me. Do you like my winter sweater that Marlyn made me? I really needed it!







I jumped back into Marilyn's pocket as we walked south. Just as the rain started we took this picture of Haystack Rock.


Later, after drying some clothes by the gas fireplace in the hotel, we hoppped in the cute little red rental car and drove south to Tillamook. Marilyn watched the road carefully with the eye of a bicyclist. Hmm. Does she really want to do a bike tour on this road?



On the way we stopped at the viewpoint on Neahkahnie Mountain. The view is always awesome and we had just a bit of sunshine. It was really windy and Marilyn had to hang on to keep me from flying off. Can you tell I was a bit nervous?

Marilyn and John went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory and spent some time watching the packing process on the self-guided tour. They also ate grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream. They left me in the car as guard. Hmm. I think they got the better deal.




On the way back we had another glimpse of the sun. For about five minutes we drove right next to a beautiful full rainbow. Part of the time there was a second, double rainbow. That pot of gold should be hiding somewhere IN our car...





Thanks for that great description of our day, Gromit. It's a good thing that we have a little computer that you can use easily!

I'll continue...




We ended the day by going to Ecola Seafoods for Dungeness crab cocktails and smoked salmon jerky and the grocery for yummy tangerines to add to our Tillamook cheese and crackers. Shortly after settling into our room with the cozy gas fireplace, the wind and rain returned with a vengeance. The weather prediction is for snow over the coastal range so our drive to Portland will probably be the longer but lower elevation route along the Columbia River.